Education

Medical Student Education

Highlights

• The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (UW SMPH) launched the new ForWard curriculum in the Fall 2016 semester. This first cohort of students entered clinical rotations in the Spring 2018 semester.
• The Department of Pediatrics played a huge role in the successful launch of this curriculum, including accommodating unprecedented student enrollment in core clinical rotations and clinical electives in the Legacy and ForWard curriculum during the transition semester of overlapping curricula. This included the launch of many new electives championed by James Gern, MD; Mary Ehlenbach, MD; Daniel Sklansky, MD; and Kathleen Kastner, MD.
• “Care Across the Life Cycle”, one of the four phase 2 required blocks, launched in January 2018. Kirstin Nackers, MD, is the course’s integrated block leader and Dominic Co, MD, is an assistant block leader. 
• Department faculty continued to play key roles in the design and implementation of the ForWard curriculum, as follows:

Longitudinal Teacher/Coaches

• • Eileen Cowan, MD
  • Troy Kleist, MD
  • Kathleen DeSantes, MD
  • Amy Plumb, MD

Phase 1: Human Family Tree

• • Gregory Rice, MD
  • Ashley Kuhl, CGC
  • Allison Pollock, MD

Phase 2: Care Across the Life Cycle

• • Kirstin Nackers, MD (integrated block leader and department block leader)
  • Dominic Co, MD

Phase 3 Activities

• Matthew Harer, MD, (pediatrics portion of internship prep course design leader) with Melissa Cercone, MD; Mary Ehlenbach, MD; Sushant Srinivasan, MD, and many Pediatrics fellows, residents and collaborators.
• Patrick Peebles, MD (pediatrics inpatient acting internship) with Adam Bauer, MD

Residency

Highlights

• The resident class of 2018 had a 100 percent pass rate on the American Board of Pediatrics general pediatrics certifying exam. The department’s three-year pass rate average is 98 percent.
• Residency Program Director and Vice Chair for Education John Frohna, MD, MPH, and Associate Residency Program Director Daniel Sklansky, MD, were named to leadership positions at the Association of Pediatric Program Directors (APPD) at its spring 2018 meeting. Dr. Frohna was elected as a new member of the APPD board of directors, and Dr. Sklansky was elected as the associate program director representative for the Midwest region.
• First-year resident Allison Heizelman, MD, was inducted into the prestigious Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Honor Medical Society during an April 6, 2018, ceremony at the Carson Gulley Center on the UW-Madison campus. Election to AOA is a lifelong honor signifying a lasting commitment to scholarship, leadership, professionalism, and service.
• Resident Anisha Rimal, MD, received the American Academy of Pediatrics International Elective Award, which supports expenses related to global health electives and projects. Dr. Rimal will return to Nepal in spring 2019 to work on a school-based health initiative with the Dhulikhel Community Health Department and nearby schools.
• The following faculty, residents and staff received awards at the Department of Pediatrics residency graduation ceremony, held June 16, 2018, at Monona Terrace:
  • Ann Allen, MD: Lobeck Award for Outstanding Teaching in Pediatrics (Clerkship)
  • Jonathan Fliegel, MD: Todd Varness Outstanding Clinical Teacher (Residency)
  • Brittany Allen, MD: Outstanding General Pediatrician (Residency)
  • Christina Amend, MD: Outstanding Senior Pediatric Resident (Residency)
  • Shawn Damodharan, MD: Outstanding Intern (Residency)
  • Jared Kevern, MD: Patient/Family-Centered Care Award (Child Life-Barb Byrne/Julie Auenson)
  • Jennifer Szmanda, DO: Medical Student Resident Teacher Award (Clerkship)

• The department held its annual two-week Fundamentals in Global Health Course on September 17-28, 2018. The multidisciplinary course includes residents from obstetrics and gynecology, emergency medicine, medicine, pediatrics, and family medicine and community health—ensuring rich group discussions incorporating a range of perspectives and experiences. Highlights included presentations by:
  • William Amanyire, MD, a visiting physician from Uganda and the new senior medical officer at its Ministry of Health;
  • Danielle Yancey, director of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health’s Native American Center for Health Professions;
  • Janna Patterson, MD, MPH, FAAP, senior vice president for global child health and life support at the American Academy of Pediatrics; and
  • Julie Linton, MD, FAAP, clinical associate professor at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine-Greenville and co-chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Immigrant Health Special Interest Group, who was also the keynote speaker at Seminars in Pediatrics and met with residents at Centro Hispano.